Book iii Quotes
223 quotes
"Therefore only an utterly senseless person can fail to know that our characters are the result of our conduct."
"What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do."
"γνῶθι πρῶτον τίς εἶ καὶ οὕτως κόσμει σεαυτόν."
"τὶ γάρ ἐστι τὸ κλαίειν καὶ οἰμώζειν; δόγμα. τί δυστυχία; δόγμα. τί στάσις, τί διχόνοια, τί μέμψις, τί κατηγορία, τί ἀσέβεια, τί φλυαρία; ταῦτα πάντα δόγματά ἐστι."
"τί οὖν δεῖ λέγειν αὐτὸν ἐφ᾿ ἑκάστου τῶν τραχέων; ὅτι 'ἕνεκα τούτου ἐγυμναζόμην, ἐπὶ τοῦτο ἤσκουν'."
"δύο γὰρ ταῦτα πρόχειρα ἔχειν δεῖ· ὅτι ἔξω τῆς προαιρέσεως οὐδέν ἐστιν οὔτε ἀγαθὸν οὔτε κακὸν καὶ ὅτι οὐ δεῖ προηγεῖσθαι τῶν πραγμάτων, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπακολουθεῖν."
"Ἑκάστου ἔργου σκόπει τὰ καθηγούμενα καὶ τὰ ἀκόλουθα καὶ οὕτως ἔρχου ἐπ᾿ αὐτό."
"δοκεῖς ὅτι ταῦτα ποιῶν δύνασαι φιλοσοφεῖν; δοκεῖς ὅτι δύνασαι ὡσαύτως ἐσθίειν, ὡσαύτως πίνειν, ὁμοίως ὀργίζεσθαι, ὁμοίως δυσαρεστεῖν;"
"παῖς γὰρ ἐν μουσικοῖς ὁ ἄμουσος, ἐν γραμματικοῖς ὁ ἀγράμματος, ἐν βίῳ ὁ ἀπαίδευτος."
"καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο λίαν κομψὸν τῷ Κυνικῷ παραπέπλεκται· δέρεσθαι αὐτὸν δεῖ ὡς ὄνον καὶ δερόμενον φιλεῖν αὐτοὺς τοὺς δέροντας ὡς πατέρα πάντων, ὡς ἀδελφόν."
"Τίς εἶναι θέλεις, σαυτῷ πρῶτον ἐιπέ· εἶθ᾿ οὕτως ποίει ἃ ποιεῖς."
"Τὸ ἄλλου παρὰ φύσιν σοὶ κακὸν μὴ γινέσθω· οὐ γὰρ συνταπεινοῦσθαι πέφυκας οὐδὲ συνατυχεῖν, ἀλλὰ συνευτυχεῖν. ἂν δέ τις ἀτυχῇ, μέμνησο, ὅτι παρ᾿ αὑτὸν ἀτυχεῖ. ὁ γὰρ θεὸς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἐπὶ τὸ εὐδαιμονεῖν, ἐπὶ τὸ εὐσταθεῖν ἐποίησεν."
"οὐκ οἶσθ᾿, ὅτι ἀνὴρ καλὸς κἀγαθὸς οὐδὲν ποιεῖ τοῦ δόξαι ἕνεκα, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πεπρᾶχθαι καλῶς;"
"What means all this?"
"Waste not the remnant of thy life in those imaginations touching other folk, whereby thou contributest not to the common weal."
"...undefiled by pleasures, invulnerable to any pain, untouched by arrogance, unaffected by meanness, an athlete in the greatest of all contests—the struggle not to be overwhelmed by anything that happens. (Hays translation)"
"The lot assigned to every man is suited to him, and suits him to itself."
"For we carry our fate with us — and it carries us. (Hays translation)"
"Be not unwilling in what thou doest, neither selfish nor unadvised nor obstinate; let not over-refinement deck out thy thought; be not wordy nor a busybody."
"A man should be upright, not kept upright."
"But that which is useful is the better."
"Choose what's best.—Best is what benefits me. (Hays translation)"
"Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect."
"Respect the faculty that forms thy judgments."
"Remember that man lives only in the present, in this fleeting instant; all the rest of his life is either past and gone, or not yet revealed. Short, therefore, is man's life, and narrow is the corner of the earth wherein he dwells."
"Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. (Hays translation)"
"The span we live is small—small as the corner of the earth in which we live it. Small as even the greatest renown, passed from mouth to mouth by short-lived stick figures, ignorant alike of themselves and those long dead. (Hays translation)"
"If you do the job in a principled way, with diligence, energy and patience, if you keep yourself free of distractions, and keep the spirit inside you undamaged, as if you might have to give it back at any moment— If you can embrace this without fear or expectation—can find fulfillment in what you're doing now, as Nature intended, and in superhuman truthfulness (every word, every utterance)—then your life will be happy. (Hays translation)—"
"As surgeons keep their instruments and knives always at hand for cases requiring immediate treatment, so shouldst thou have thy thoughts ready to understand things divine and human, remembering in thy every act, even the smallest, how close is the bond that unites the two."
"Nothing earthly succeeds by ignoring heaven, nothing heavenly by ignoring the earth. (Hays translation)"
"Fair and softly goes far."
"No limits but the sky."
"To give the devil his due."
"Didn't I tell you, Don Quixote, sir, to turn back, for they were not armies you were going to attack, but flocks of sheep?"
"Plain as the nose on a man's face."
"You are taking the wrong sow by the ear."
"Bell, book, and candle."
"You're leaping over the hedge before you come to the stile."
"Let the worst come to the worst."
"You are come off now with a whole skin."
"Fear is sharp-sighted, and can see things underground, and much more in the skies."
"That's the nature of women ... not to love when we love them, and to love when we love them not."
"Ill luck, you know, seldom comes alone."
"Now had Aurora displayed her mantle over the blushing skies, and dark night withdrawn her sable veil."
"I tell thee, that is Mambrino's helmet."
"Give me but that, and let the world rub; there I'll stick."
"Experience, the universal Mother of Sciences."
"Thank you for nothing."
"After meat comes mustard; or, like money to a starving man at sea, when there are no victuals to be bought with it."
"Of good natural parts and of a liberal education."
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